I am a student in the United States. I will complete my degree in December. I have been trying desperately to obtain a job overseas in New Zealand, Australia, or somewhere tropical. I have found this to be much more complicated than I originally thought. The teacher councils are telling me that they can only evaluate complete degrees and certification. If I do this, I will have to wait until December to even begin the process of getting a job. I was hoping to have a job when I finished college. Does anyone have any answers about the best way to go about doing this? If I do have to wait until December, what chance do I have of getting a job for that upcoming semester?

Yes. I will graduate with an all level special education certification as well as with a certification to teach EC-6 grades. So I wasn't really counting on getting a job teaching English. I would just like to teach.

If you want to teach in early childhood education, I think recruitment times are a lot more flexible - the salary's not great though (not in NZ anyway). Teacher registration is required from primary school upwards but a recognised qual is now needed for EC. Teaching in primary and intermediate or middle schools is far better paid work. The main recruitment time for the school year (beg. early February) is now - Sept/Oct.

You could start looking for and applying for jobs, most of which are advertised in the online NZ Gazette. I think there are different sites for Australia depending on which state it is. The difficulty you'll most likely face is that quite a lot of schools, though not all, stipulate that you must already be registered with the relevant teaching council before you apply and some want local teaching experience as well. On top of that, applying from abroad and needing a work visa is not going to make it easy. I'm not sure how sought after special education teachers are. If there's a shortage, that'll help.

I don't think it's impossible - just not particularly easy at any time. However, trying to get school teaching work from December onwards would be highly unlikely as the pool of available local teachers would be called on first. I wonder if you would be better off getting some teaching experience where you are, and then apply to teaching councils the following year when all your paperwork is through? If you're prepared for an EFL focus, you could check out teaching children in countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand and start applying now in time for Jan/Feb (or whenever their school year starts).

Will I be able to apply for jobs with only a TEFL certification since I am having to wait to register with the teacher's council until December?

If you mean NZ and Australia, there's nothing, in theory, to stop you from applying, especially if you're eligible for a working holiday as NG posted. That would take care of visa issues. I'm not sure of the limitations around that in terms of length of time (months) or number of hours. You'd have to check that out in more detail.

There wouldn't be much need at the EC level but if you mean TEFL work in state (or private) primary / secondary schools - then no. You have to be a registered teacher to work in schools. That's true in NZ and I imagine it is for Australia, too. There are a lot of state school teachers with TEFL quals in both countries. Usually this kind of work is sought after and there's a lot of competition to get it.

As far as private language schools or tertiary institutions go, it's the same situation as every other English speaking country. There is a huge number of qualified and experienced locals, without any visa limitations, seeking exactly the same thing. International student numbers have been dropping in NZ. Not sure about Oz - it was bad for a while - but it might've picked up by now. December is not the best time - a lot of places close down over Xmas/NY. It's hard to put an exact month on it as this industry is so variable it but Sept seems to be quite a busy time for enrolments. Theoretically, students can arrive at any time.

As a minimum, you'd need a BA and TEFL certificate for private language schools. CELTA and Trinity are the most recognised but other reputable certs would be acceptable. You'd be working with young adults mostly. Many people go to Oz and NZ under working hol schemes and most are prepared to do any kind of work to keep themelves going. Australia is going to offer the most in terms of employment opportunities but the cities, especially Sydney, are not cheap places to live. NZ is not especially cheap either.

I don't want to sound too negative about your chances, but I'd say you won't get offered work from abroad in either country, with or without registration. The pool of local teachers is too great for that. That means you'd have to turn up, if you're eligible for the work/hol scheme - perhaps having made contacts in advance - and chance it. It's a long way to travel without having a fixed working situation but, as I say, many do and are willing to do lots of different kinds of work to get by.
You've got a far better chance of TEFL work, especially with kids, in non English speaking countries.